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Updated: Jan 8, 2026

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Evaluating the Differentiation Capacity of Mouse Prostate Epithelial Cells Using Organoid Culture
Published on: November 22, 2019
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Graded Notch Signaling Functions as a Rheostat of Lineage Plasticity and Therapy Resistance in Prostate Cancer
Biorxiv : the Preprint Server for Biology
|December 15, 2025
Summary
Notch signaling acts as a rheostat controlling prostate cancer cell fate. Its dynamic rewiring drives resistance to enzalutamide therapy by promoting progenitor cells, but inhibiting Notch restores treatment sensitivity.
Area of Science:
- Oncology
- Molecular Biology
- Cell Biology
Background:
- Prostate cancer resistance to androgen receptor-targeted therapies like enzalutamide is a major clinical challenge.
- Lineage plasticity is a key mechanism of resistance, but its molecular drivers are not fully understood.
- Notch signaling components (Notch1, Notch2) have known roles in prostate cancer, but their integrated function in resistance is unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of Notch signaling as a regulator of cell fate transitions in castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC).
- To determine how Notch signaling dynamics contribute to enzalutamide resistance.
- To explore the therapeutic potential of targeting Notch signaling in CRPC.
Main Methods:
- Integrative transcriptomic and functional analyses were performed on prostate cancer models.
- CRISPR-mediated knockout and pharmacologic inhibition of Notch signaling were employed.
- Cell fate transitions, progenitor cell populations, and therapeutic response were assessed.
Main Results:
- Notch signaling functions as a graded rheostat, controlling prostate cancer cell differentiation.
- Intermediate Notch activity maintains a stem-like progenitor state.
- Dynamic rewiring of Notch signaling, with a peak in progenitor cells, drives enzalutamide resistance.
- Inhibition of Notch signaling depleted progenitor cells and re-sensitized tumors to enzalutamide.
Conclusions:
- The level of Notch signaling, not just its presence, dictates lineage direction and therapeutic response in CRPC.
- Notch signaling is a tunable and actionable driver of resistance in castration-resistant prostate cancer.
- Targeting Notch signaling represents a promising strategy to overcome enzalutamide resistance.
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